Introducing a New Blog Series…

Today’s topic is the current state of blogging. Here are links to three articles on this topic:

Why Blogging Still Matters by Samuel D. James“By slowing down the pace of online life, blogging enables a more genuine interaction between people. . . . If we want to escape the echo chambers that dominate our online lives; if we want something other than the hottest takes and the pithiest putdowns; if we have any aspiration for exchange and debate that goes beyond outrage or mindlessness, we should reinvest our time, resources, and attention in the humble blog.”

Three Kinds of Blogs (and the Future of Christian Blogging) by Tim Challies“Where the blog was basically a new paradigm, the ministry blog [with various contributors] is actually more of an update to an older one—the magazine. . . . And as I think about the future of Christian blogging, this is one of my foremost concerns—that as bloggers migrate away from personal blogs to instead submit their content to ministry sites, we are giving away the ability to say what we want to say, when we want to say it, and how we want to say it.”

Why Blog — From the Writer Who Said Goodbye to Blogging by L.L. Barkat“People are tired of online life, but they still want to read good writing and find ideas that help them live and love and laugh—in their private lives, their writing lives, and their businesses. . . . I can’t promise you’ll find blogging to be the exciting opportunity I find it to be. But if you’re looking for a different way to approach your writing life or even a current blog, I suggest you give ‘the new blogging’ a try.”

INTRODUCING A NEW BLOG SERIES…

I’ve heard that “blogging is dead.” Not so much the collaborative blog with a group of contributors, but the individual blog. It has, for the most part, gone the way of the dinosaur — or at least the way of No. 2 lead pencils.

Small wonder. Few mortals could keep up with the kind of pace recommended by the blogging pros who said we should publish new blog articles three to five times per week. They also said we should blast every social media outlet with promotional graphics and links back to our posts. (Never mind the fact these same blogging pros had paid staff helping them maintain the pace they promoted.)

So, if blogging is dead, I’m okay with that. The old ways of blogging weren’t really sustainable.

Even during the golden years of blogging, I never fully embraced the “best practices” the big-time bloggers advocated, but the measure of blogging I did participate in left me feeling tired. So, you may have noticed I haven’t posted a new article on my website in over a year. There’s a reason for that.

On Easter Sunday 2018, the late afternoon found everyone in my family taking a nap, so I savored the quiet of the day by settling into a comfy spot on the couch with my journal and pen.

While writing, an obscure verse came to mind: Let it rest and lie fallow.

I looked up the verse and the entire context is found in Exodus 23:10-11.

“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow . . .” (ESV)

To let the land rest and lie fallow is to leave your fields untended for a year-long season. It’s commonly referred to as a “Sabbath Year” or a “Sabbatical Year.”

An entire year of rest sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

I’ve heard of missionaries who take year-long furloughs and pastors who take sabbaticals for several months at a stretch, but my husband has a 9 to 5 (actually a 6 to 6) kind of job, and I’ve been under contracts with back-to-back deadlines. It’s simply not feasible to take a whole month off of work, much less an entire year.

Still, the verse continued to reverberate deep inside, and I sensed the need to find a way to rest, even amidst the deadlines and other work commitments.

So, among other things, I gave my website a rest and didn’t publish a single article. But even before that, I hadn’t published regularly on my own website in quite some time because most of my online articles were for other websites. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but in writing for other websites, I noticed that my writing had shifted to accommodate what other websites wanted. This, too, can be appropriate, for we should always be cognizant of writer guidelines and strive to be a good guest when in someone else’s home on the web.

But somewhere along the way, I missed writing about the things I’m truly passionate about. So, after taking more than a year away from my own blog, I’m dusting off the cobwebs and returning to the web. My web space right here. Going forward, though, I should warn you: I’m not returning to “blogging as usual.” Which is a good thing.

Thankfully, blogging and writing are two different things, and I’m just as passionate about writing as I’ve always been.

While I’ve dabbled in different genres, I’ve always been most at home when writing about good theology and good writing, especially when those two things intersect with topics like women in the church and women in online spaces.

Beginning this Thursday, I’m starting a new blog series called “Three on Thursday.”

Each article will feature links to three other articles on the same topic. I’ll follow those three links with my own thoughts on the topic.

What kinds of topics will these new articles cover?

Current trends among women.

Online communities.

Healthy church practices.

Spiritual growth.

Bible studies.

Good books.

Strong leadership.

Social media.

Personality tests.

And more…

Each article will end with an invitation to share what you think about that topic. There won’t be a traditional comments section, but there will be a link where you can share your thoughts, as well as any new links to other similar articles, including your own.

Good writing is never a one-way street. It’s a conduit where conversations can happen, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on a given matter.

In the end, I hope to accomplish three things with this new series:

I want to explore — with a strong biblical worldview — the issues that affect women today.

I want to share the writing of others.

I want to hear what you have to say.

This new series will follow a simple posting schedule of once a week. Every Thursday, I will post a new article, along with three corresponding links to three other articles.

Do keep in mind though: A link to a certain article does not mean I endorse everything that writer states; rather, a link to an article means there is something inside that article I find interesting and would like to discuss further. And you are invited to join me in that discussion.

For example, the three links I shared at the top of this article discuss the current state of blogging today, and each writer offers good ideas for the value still inherent in the blogging process. I’ve been contemplating this new blog series for some time now, and these three articles served to prod me more in this direction.

I’d love to hear about your experiences either writing blogs or reading them. Have you blogged in the past? Or been an avid reader of certain blogs?

If you still blog today, send me a link HERE to your website. I’d love to see what you’ve been up to!